Donald Ramphadi aims to up his world ranking at the upcoming Barcelona Open

Ramphadi, currently ranked seventh in the world, says he wants to add more points to help lift his profile as he continues to build up to the French Open.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Ramphadi adds that the few final upcoming tournaments will be important to test his fitness ahead of the big Roland Garros.

“So, this year every tournament will be very important for me because I really need to up my ranking, because last year, yes, I did win the Paralympics, but I was actually not in my best level,” Ramphadi said.

“I’m still glad because the Paralympics is one of the biggest things that I’ve achieved. So, it’s very important for me to actually go to Barcelona because it’s a leading to Roland Garros and that’s where the magic happens.

“You know that venue, anything can happen with me, so every tournament is very important to me, so I can be able to up my points.”

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With just five days to go before the biggest Spanish tennis competition on clay - Ramphadi says he is fulfilled with how his preparations went ahead of the tournament.

“I’m very happy with how I prepared for the tournament, it’s actually better than the last time because I had problems with some personal stuff, which really took a toll on my performance,” he explained.

“So, right now, I’m focused, I’m enjoying being back on the court and doing what I love and going the extra mile. Working hard is just something that I do right now because there are a whole lot of things that I wanna achieve right now as an athlete.

“Knowing that each year you need to get something magic so that you can actually attract the sponsors and all that. So, it’s really important to me to work hard to get all the points or win the major tournaments.”